Military researchers conducting the flight of the fastest unmanned aircraft ever launched said Thursday an "anomaly" caused a lost contact with the vehicle nine minutes into its flight. The plane is believed to have crashed in the Pacific at some point along the planned flight path, according to a statement from the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA), which conducted the test.

The Falcon Hypersonic Test Vehicle (HTV-2) had successfully separated from the launch vehicle and was performing "glide phase" maneuvers meant to test its aerodynamics when contact was lost, according to an 11 a.m. (ET) Twitter post from DARPA. A tweet, at 12:30 p.m. said downrange trackers were unable to relocate the HTV2 but the vehicle "has an autonomous flight termination capability".

The vehicle was launched by a Minotaur IV rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, before separating and re-entering the atmosphere over the Pacific. The launch, originally slated for Wednesday but then scrubbed because of weather, was not broadcast live.

This was the second run for the craft. In April 2010 ended with the aircraft crashing into the Pacific after a loss of contact nine minutes into the flight. But those nine minutes provided some key information about flying 22 times faster than a commercial jetliner.

Thursday's flight was to test control and communications capabilities, as well as heat resistance and other effects of hypersonic flight. The nine minutes of data demonstrated that launching the aircraft was mastered but they continued to be stymied in controlling the vehicle at Mach 20 speed.

"We do not yet know how to achieve the desired control during the aerodynamic phase of flight. It’s vexing; I’m confident there is a solution. We have to find it," said Air Force Maj. Chris Schulz, the DARPA program manager.

DARPA's goal is to create the capability of reaching any target in the world in less than an hour.

The triangular wedge of zoom is capable of reaching Mach 20 – approximately 13,000 miles per hour – according to DARPA. At such speeds in Earth's atmosphere, friction subjects the vehicle to temperatures of more than 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit.

As DARPA said on the HTV-2 site, at that speed "air doesn't travel around you – you rip it apart."

I believe a much better use of federal funding would be to research a means of instilling some semblance of intelligence in members of the Tea Party movement. That would benefit all Americans by allowing our country to move in a positive direction.

it's technically a "ballistic" vehicle since it's doesn't have it's own propulsion. the "thrusters" are just for adjusting maneuvers. it's basically a very fast and accurate bullet since it's just "dropped" from space. the two flaps in the back do most of the guiding.

Are only the test flights unmanned? Could a human could withstand such a ride? If it is designed to be unmanned for practical use, why don't they just call it a bomb since the word "target" is used? What other purpose would it have? Seems like it would be an expensive bomb but if it saves our soldiers from harm than it's worth it.

The future of fighter aircraft and weapon delivery systems is unmanned. Without humans on board, you eliminate the weight needed for life support, the aircraft can handle G forces that would kill a human, and the aircraft can be a lot smaller.

A major future I see for such a craft would be for spy flights. It takes time to move a satellite into position and it can only make one pass every ninety minutes. An aircraft like this could crisscross an area multiple times before returning to base. Just because it can fly at Mach 20 doesn't mean it has to go that fast all the time as it is within the earth's atmosphere that can provide lift.

If you are that picky about an internet comment, you could at least make a complete sentence.

August 11, 2011 at 12:41 pm |

DEKC2011

A human can withstand peak speeds of 13,000 mph and a lot more, it just depends on the acceleration and G-forces involved in getting up to that speed. I can't imagine this being used in commercial flight because I don't think anyone is really in that big of a hurry, whether for buisness or pleasure. I thought this would just be used to deliver nuclear weapons but the currently fielded ICBMs are said to be capable of reaching speeds of 15,000mph potentially reaching their target sooner than the HTV-2 would. So besides setting new air speed records in atmosphere for the next Guiness book or World Records, I'm not sure how practical this technology would be.

I'm thinking surveillance primarily. This could put eyes on a target very quickly, or perhaps deliver a smart payload to a remote area before it moves on. Say we find that a bad guy is hiding in the middle of nowhere, this intel may only be good for a few minutes – this lets us send a care package before they can get off the pot.

Don't discredit that we've all been impacted possitively by military improvements/technologies. However nothing good has ever come out of letting the goverment things. Give the money to the masses, we would have had this thing 50 years ago.

That's just the problem in today's society. Nobody trusts anybody. Give people the benefit of the doubt. We are not savages as a people, although you will always have your moron or two or hundreds (as is the case overseas). I still say give the funding to the masses, we would be far more developed today.

August 11, 2011 at 11:33 am |

SK

This is one where I don't see many civilian applications, but who knows?

I just watched that short cartoon of a test flight. I like the end where they explain how it terminates its' flight into the ocean. My a$$.... the only thing that will terminate its fight is the enemies infrastructure. US to Iran in 12 minutes... goodbye!

Wait, let me get this straight. Tea Party members and Republicans are demanding that we slash spending on "entitlement" programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security (programs for poor/low-income people and children that are unable to afford these services directly), gut the budgets of agencies that are in place to protect the health and well-being of Americans here at home (EPA, FDA, FAA, NTSB, etc.), and completely dismantle programs tasked with ensuring the continued education and advancement of our country...

Yet, it is perfectly legitimate to spend BILLIONS on a project that would allow us to attack any target in the world within an hour!!! And this is only one of the few DOD projects that have been publicly acknowledged. How many more are still on the blacklist and receive billions in funding without the American public knowing about them? My God, what has our country come to when we can flippantly say FU to feeding, clothing, housing, and educating our children and the less fortunate around us, but we sure as hell can't wait to spend BILLIONS/TRILLIONS to pull the trigger and kill someone halfway around the world in less than 60 minutes?????????

I can only imagine that the forces of the universe are waiting on pins and needles for the next large comet to come through and wipe the slate clean on our little planet!

Rob, you miss the basic premise of conservative doctrine. Conservatives believe national defense is the first (and some say, only) essential role for the national government. While most conservatives agree that there should be a safety net to help those who trully cannot help themselves, the bloated programs you cite waste most of their money on government programs that do not work or on handouts to those who are able to help themselves. While I do not necessarily endorse this particular defense program (I really know nothing about it), I think your gross generalizations about Republicans swallow your argument.

Well, if the democrats are so wonderful and care so much, why is Mr. BO taking so many vacations and sending his wife and children all over the world spending millions each time? Does he truly care about the poor? I think not.

Are you also saying we should help the poor that became poor because they never wanted to do any dam effort to get an education when they had a chance. As far as I know school is mandatory here in the US and if you don't want to learn or even attend then you are increasing your change to a poor life. Should we really help those people instead of increasing are techonogy! I say, let the poor that wanted to be poor to their poor life.

Although I agree with you that we should not be cutting funding to education and many other programs that seem to be under the axe, you can't look at this program just at face value. Did you think about all the people this program creates jobs for? We need to keep highly skilled hands and minds that are behind these projects here in the U.S., if we don't have jobs for them they will go elsewhere and take all the experience they developed with them. I'm assuming you're also someone who thinks the shuttle program was a waste of money- you can only see the price tag and not the vast amounts of innovation and technology it spurred. Did you read about the aftermath of that program, how many people lost their jobs, and how they have no options because so little innovation is happening? If the U.S. had realized a plan sooner they could have retained all those highly trained workers by smoothly transitioning to a new program...but politics dropped the ball and now we have a deadzone until the new asteroid program kicks in.

@teddy "Did you think about all the people this program creates jobs for?"

Hmm, let me think about that for a moment... didn't thousands of space program employees just lose their jobs due to the end of the shuttle program? What about all the people who lost their jobs when congress canceled the Constellation program? I'm pretty darn sure we could find plenty of other beneficial programs to move these workers in to. Seriously, if you were given the following two choices for how your tax dollars are used for technological advancements, which would you choose:

1). Military black project that spends billions/trillions and creates thousands of jobs for the war industry while trying to find new, creative ways to kill people...

Jeez, if trillions of dollars are going to be spent and tens of thousands employed, I'd rather it be for the good of humanity rather than for the destruction of it!!!

August 11, 2011 at 11:13 am |

RobbW

I have no problem whatsoever spending money and employing people. It's just our priorities on where we spend the money and employ people that really bugs the hell out of me!! As a matter of fact, NO, I did not think the shuttle program was a waste of money. I wish to God they would have spent more on it and developed it further. For crying out loud, I want them to move funds from war-mongering projects to exploration projects. I love our night sky and am constantly wondering what else is out there? Why can't we spend our tax dollars to explore that rather than killing everyone around us?

August 11, 2011 at 11:20 am |

Aethrys

Because we totally wouldn't detect that coming and annihilate it with our guided hypersonic bomb.

Wonder what they effects on humans are when traveling mach 20 ?
How soon can we get from LA to NYC in 12 minutes ?
Will the taxi from the airport to the biz be down to 12 min also ? { a funny for those of you with a sense of hummor }

Actually project Aurora began in the 1980s. It was initially based in Redstone Arsenal (Huntsville, AL) during the early 1980s, then the project was moved to Eglin AFB (Gulf Breeze, FL) in the 1990s. I witnessed one of the proto-types being tested near Eglin AFB over Navarre Beach in the early 1990s.

Classic...DARPA has been around since 1958 and you think it comes from a video game. I'm sure you're not alone in thinking that either. I like video games too but turn it off for a while and pay attention to the world around you.

This seems like a nice replacement for Nuke armed ICBMs , Should be able to pack a few smart bombs or missiles into one of those, and get them there in a timely fashion. With a little more development to make them re-usable, they would be god for recon of places that need to be watched,"Right Now", but don't have a satellite in the right orbit, or time to move one, and the Chinese have shown their capability to shoot down satellites anyway!

its time to remove the paranoid hypercondriacts (sp) away from the offices of power, just because they have the most money doesn't mean they make the best decisions, if you think about it, money is the reason bad decisions are made, and 234 of it is enough, dont you think? its long over due to remove money as a qualification to run anything regarding the lives of others anywhere

DARPA projects have a way of benefiting the public at large with spinoff technologies. The space program was the result of military research with rockets, and has created hundreds of spinoff technologies that have benefited all of humanity. Medical advances have been made and science has been enhanced to such a degree that every day brings new discoveries that make it possible to improve everyone's quality of life. In addition, DARPA was at least partially responsible for the creation of the Internet. Like it or not, the Internet has revolutionized everything. You are using it right now if you are reading my comments. In the old days, we would have had to write a letter to the editor and waited for days or weeks to get it published. Now, we can do the same thing in seconds and respond to one another in a real-time fashion. Finally, I realize that much of DARPA's research is perceived as a waste of money for more efficient ways to kill. That is a self limiting view of technology research and development. DARPA's mission is not merely to find better ways to kill people. It is stay ahead of the curve. Our enemies will not rest; therefore, we must stay ahead of them. In case anyone entertains any ideas that I'm a conservative, I am not. I am a progressive thinker, or as some conservatives say, a left-leaning liberal.

I think alot of you aren't figuring this out which is understandable. Do you really think the military is developing this technology so you and your grandmother can get started on your European vacation a little faster.... it's being developed so we can bomb the crap out of any country in the world before they could even begin to react.

The headline is a joke which shows that most people do understand the fact they are not developing this strictly for commercial flight. The intent was to show the speed of the vehicle. The one not understanding the article is yourself. I bet in 30-40 years when you are sipping a screwdriver and surfing the net on a flight, you will be in something that is derived from this test.

The only Joke here Kyle is you. He obviously knows that unlike alot of people on here. Geez, sounds like you need a screwdriver... or maybe you should just go get acrewed!

August 11, 2011 at 11:29 am |

CNN Dummies

Kyle.. this isn't being developed for commercial anything you tard. Your mother couldn't even fit inside of it. Maybe the technology someday could be used for commercial flight but that's not what this WEAPON is being made for.

August 11, 2011 at 11:34 am |

Norman Paperman

"..will not be broadcast live but you can follow progress on the DARPA Twitter feed"

And for those of us who are not part of the personal info mining project, is there a site that's available to find out about this launch?

this isn't 'new' technology. They're taking something the spaceshuttle was capable of for decades and simplifying it. Now cutting edge would be getting the aircraft from ground to sub orbit (during that 12 minutes) which I'm sure is not included in the time frame.

Just because the country is struggling financially, does not mean we should stop experimenting and pushing boundaries. Why do people always have to put a damper on things? This is COOL! Stop being such downers.

You're right. I should just tell my children to suck up the 100k education bill, suck up retiring at 75, suck up all the people who've gotten 10 x whatever they put into Soc. Sec. and Medicare... Yeh, let's just spend money like water on things, not people...

You do realize that the internet and the good economic times of the nineties that the internet brought forth originated from military experimentation and ingenuity? I'm not saying that this particular venture will result in anything that the general public will profit from but it is up to the government to experiment and bring new technologies to the forefront for public profiteering.

August 11, 2011 at 10:31 am |

American Patriot

I agree. Does anyone believe that because countries are hurting economically they are not spending money on technology? Any technology? You better believe China, Russia and North Korea would feed their people hot dogs and applesauce to catch and pass us on the technology front. We MUST continue to do these things so we are not left spending trillions to catch up ourselves. Spend the billions now. We are already giving up on space programs. I would gladly sacrifice and eat peanut butter and jelly if it meant that my children and grandchildren would not have to, to catch the Chinese or Russians 30 years from now. The PICTURE is bigger than anyone replying to these stories would ever know.

North Korea's people would LOVE if they were able to eat hot dogs and applesauce, or anything for that matter.

August 11, 2011 at 10:34 am |

johnfrancis

Advanced technology is what has always given our country an edge and allowed us to prosper. For example, the internet was developed from a military project. If we stop developing advanced technology, we lose our edge and competitiveness in the world and our country is going to quickly lose any prosperity we have and our population will be in much bigger trouble than we are now. Technology and innovation is the way to get us out of this mess. Eliminating it will just push us further into it.

I get so mildly amused by you people that respond with comments of news articles. Right off, comments go wildly off of the subject.
This item is a military item, it is designed to Kill, Maim, Destroy. No government in the world puts a limit on K-M-D technology. The only way you stop a warhead is to crash it into the target or blow it before it hits something it wasn’t intended for.
A militaries job is to be ready to Kill, Maim, and Destroy before any other entity gets an upper-hand. Any technology that is presented to the public is already twenty-years in the making; so funding was established many years ago.
This technology will obsolete the old technology of putting a warhead up in the edges of space, hold it there until the earth rotates under it, and dropping the warhead back down on its target. May not be cheaper but, it sure could be faster.

Also you media outlets need to stop using the term "US" to describe the actions of the oligarchy as the feelings of the entire nation.... you must start separating your news as the will of the people vs the decisions of the brass, as the people dont control the military decisions so when they make a mistake or lie or kill, you make sure that you report that difference and dont set the blame on the people of the entire US for most dont even know what they are doing, yet you report it as the whole country made the bad decisions.... get your crap together or fold up your media tent and go play elsewhere.

The government is struggling to develop a spending plan. hmm . Did they ever consider cutting spending on stupid stuff like this? Invest in things like this when the economy can handle the extra spending. What is the purpose of having a super sonic air craft? I sure as heck wouldn't pay for a seat. The only purpose is for military exercises. honestly This aircraft cannot carry a unit of men.

The purpose is to stay ahead of the curve with our military technology. You can bet China is pouring tons of money into advancing their military technology as much as they can, and if we let ours slack, one of these days China is going to become more powerful than us and take us over and we'll all be speaking Chinese.

I understand exactly how people feel and I am also a tax payer. I don't think US should stop spending on Military, war heads and technology research because you've evil countries like China, Russia, North Korea, middle eastern like Pakistan waiting at the door to attack the US.

They need to re-open Nasa instead of paying 65 million per head for a ride to space by Russia. People need to start paying attention instead of complaining all the time. I understand that it is very hard but cutting the main protection to a country is not a good thing. They need to read and watch foreign news so that they will know the truth about foreign countries. When I read BBC world news all you read is about countries trying to beat the US on something. They continuously are comparing US with their countries. China is trying so hard to be a head of the US. They are currently building a big navel ship so that they can compete with the US. US is losing so much to this world because they are not paying attention.

I think the US government should cut spending everywhere but in its defense system, technology and military. They need to get rid of welfare all together. They need to build the military to four times more than what they have now instead of trying to layoff police officers, closing down Nasa and many other government authority. After removing everything that US has, it will be too late when something critical happen and they don’t have the mean to handle it. The world hates the US and the government better pay attention.

True, hypersonic research is a work in progress. It may take three, or even four years for first practical hypersonic vehicle to be built. About the same amount of time it takes to design and build a new type of car. Gosh, let's just quit now, it can't possibly be worth it.

New York to L.A. in 12 minutes... after the 1 hour climb to reach the altitude and reach the maximum speed, the 1 hour deceleration and decent, the 2 hour security screening process, and the 2 hour traffic to get to the airport. New York to L.A. in 6 hours.... and 12 minutes.

"New York to L.A. in 12 minutes... after the 1 hour climb to reach the altitude and reach the maximum speed, the 1 hour deceleration and decent, the 2 hour security screening process, and the 2 hour traffic to get to the airport. New York to L.A. in 6 hours.... and 12 minutes."

Lol so true... don't forget about baggage claim, that takes atleast an hour.

After we spend billions upon billions developing and perfecting this technology, China will take it and come out with one that only flies 10,000 mph and will produce it for next to nothing...........communism can be dangerous thing when mixed with a little capitalism.

this a little to do with communism ... you do't simply take it and make it half as fast for next to nothing ... China, will learn that it takes more than just money ... though they will not fail, to to thing like going to the moon ... they will make it .. sure, but it will cost them more than money, so such fast UAV .. is beyond simple technological know-how ... DARPA programs are the best thing happened to this country. never change that , or communism will take over for real.

In these times of economic struggle, we seem to have little use for scientific exploration for the good of the economy and for mankind, but KILLING PEOPLE AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT is just what we need! I'm SO glad we have our priorities straight !

Yes, becuase focusing on a socially developed structure that at the end of the day doesnt advance the human species really makes sense. This type of project paves the way for space exploration and moving off of a doomed planet.

Why would you go that fast in the atmosphere? It is just beating your head against a wall. The air is there. Don't fight it. If you want to go that fast, get a little more altitude and go sub-orbital in space.

If we stop trying to advance our technological horizons as a people we are doomed to starve and die. Only if we are able to outpace our population growth, our polution outputs, and our resource drains will we survive. We wont cut, or tax our way out of these problems, we will advance beyond them entirely, or we will fade away into nothing.

Isn't this great!!! The country is going broke, except for terrorists the world is the safest it has been in years, people are starving in Somolia, and we are coming up with new and better weapons of mass distruction. Do you think if we stopped escalating the arms race other countries might too. Defensive weapons are fine, but not this.

NASA has been working on a similar project for years also. They have no money now to continue that project. The military has that money. Should I remind you that velcro, superglue, GPS are just a few of the military projects that have been extremely beneficial to the public at large?

Thanks so much for the reminder. I didn't think of how important Velcro is to seniors who are having their health care benefits reduced and to school children whose lunch programs are being cut leaving them with little if anything to eat. I know, they can eat velcro. I might be mistaken given I am not a well informed at you, but I thought that those three discoveries were made as part of the space program with a peaceful research program and this is a military program intended to be able to deliver bombs anywhere in the world. I am a strong advocate of having a strong military for the defense of the US and support of our allies. This amounts to nothing more than exclating the arms race. But against who?

August 11, 2011 at 10:06 am |

kendo23

Don't forget army pants! Did wonders for the fashion industry.

August 11, 2011 at 10:07 am |

Geotigg

EXACTLY. It never ceases to amaze me how short sighted people can be. It's as if an idea has no immediate or instananeous pay of, they don't want it. On of the prinicple public/private agreements when NASA was created was that the companies that developed a given technology for NASA would be free to marke hat tchnology and sell it for a profit.

As you clearly point out ... velcro, superglue, etc. were initially created by/for NASA. Where would our kids be today, without velcro (besides being able to actualy tie their shoes)???

August 11, 2011 at 10:12 am |

Amused

I'm sorry, but you are quite mistaken! Neither vecro nor super glue were developed by or for the military! Velcro was invented by as swiss engineer named George de Mestral in 1948 and was popularized by NASA who was the first large scale user of the technology. Super glue was invented in 1942 by Harry Coover and Fred Joyner of Kodak Laboratories and was not used by the military until the 1970s. GPS was indeed implemented by the US Department of Defense, but was engineered by NASA and based upon concepts from Authur C Clarke. You were almost right on that one!

August 11, 2011 at 10:28 am |

johnfrancis

You forgot to mention that the internet is a product of a military project.. which has created an entire industry, millions upon millions of jobs, brought huge amounts of money and prosperity to america, and changed the world forever.

August 11, 2011 at 10:40 am |

John10484

America needs to stop policing the world, so fuck somalia worry about us for a while. And yes the military budget is rediculous but get out of afghanistan and iraq and it would drop dramatically. Also, this is not a WMD its simple a vehicle that could be part of a WMD.

Transportation of cargo and people is one of the end goals of hypersonic flight research. Whether the general public can fly on it safely is a valid long-term concern. I should point out the Concorde had some health restrictions, about like those on a roller coaster.

I'm fine with blowing a gazillion dollars on ourselves (US). Problem is when we give a gazillion dollars to countries who don't even like us, not to mention fighting wars where we are not using our full potential. We should have made a bold statement right after 911, sending a message to the worlds tyrants that the US is not messing around. We failed to do that. So now for the past decade we have been fighting a politically correct war at the expense of our troops. The tyrants are laughing at us. And now our economy is imploding because of the idiots in Congress have no idea what they are doing. They only care about their silver-spoon fed selves. We better wake up before it's too late.

The problem is that the US wants to be the world's policeman and be in control of everything everywhere. It is time to give up our egos and realize that is not possible if we want to ensure our own people a decent life.

To the idiots complaining about spending, this could one day also hit the commercial market. It will also help in space exploration and guess what could be out on other planets... NATURAL RESOURCES that would give us $$$$$$$$$$$. Hydrogen3 for example is a very powerful molecule and there is an almost endless supply in Jupiter's atmosphere. Why do you think NASA is checking out Jupiter. The ignorance of people astounds me.

I agree with you. Read a headline, form an opinion, then make a retarded statement. I for one have more than a decade of experience in the aerospace world. When you have no clue what DARPA is and make statements about it, you highlight what's wrong with America, lack of education. Go read publications people! I can only cope with this by laughing at how shoot first, ask questions later comments are posted.

"hope they bring back truckloads of this Hydrogen3 " - Hyrdogen3 is a gas... you can't bring truckloads of a gas back from anywhere, especially Jupiter.

August 11, 2011 at 10:34 am |

Al Olmsted

Who's setting our priorities? We definitely need innovative technologies. But let's spend this BIG money on alternative energy development so that we can drive cars (or personal vehicles of some sort yet to be invented for lack of research money) that do not require fossil fuels!! The world is only such a dangerous, high-stakes place because we are making it that way – and spending BIG Yankee dollars to do it!

Electric cars are only as clean as the electricty that powers them and if you live in new york 68% of the power is from oil so its not clean energy for them.

August 11, 2011 at 10:08 am |

Chaz

This is Fantastic ! My thoughts are INCREASE the military budget. Innovations lead to more jobs in the good old USA. Cut the TRILLIONS of dollars given to the 60+ countries that hate us and will stab us in the back given a chance. It is time we spend our money in our own backyard instead of giving it to our unappreciative neighbors.

Nice to see the USA creating new cutting edge technology. @JLB, part of flying this fast is being considerably above where traditional airplanes fly...the craft will launch from a Minotaur which will already be well above where Delta and the likes are flying.

Yes, let's start strapping river stones to sticks and hammering wooden stakes into the dirt so we can lash our animal hide tents to them and keep our cooking fires from being damped out by the rain while the men are out killing dinner... life would be so much better.

Just because YOU think it's a waste, that doesn't mean it is. Not a day goes by that your life isn't positively influenced countless times over by something that came as a result of the military or space exploration. Perhaps your feeble mind can't think of a good reason for this craft to exist, but you never know what useful or even life-saving technologies could be born of this.

Now, go sit back down at the little kids' table and let the grown-ups do their thing.

Do you think that it is a waste to develop faster transportation technology? Think about how much good could come of faster air transportation for things like med-evac. If someone has a car wreck in a remote location, they are more likely to survive if they can get to a trauma center in a matter of minutes as opposed to several hours.

Think of the possibilities: The research is creating and keeping jobs. No need for ANY foreign based troops – we could handle any threat from our own soil. When the technology tricks to civilian world think of the ability to move products ANYWHERE fast – think of what resource such as food and water could be ship for disaster relief. And the list goes on.

@halcyon- it'll probably be less than useless on aliens. They probably already have warp drive....

Commercial flight doesn't need to go that fast. Layovers and delays will put an end to the buzz. Just use the blueprints of the SR-71. Made L.A. to D.C flight in just over an hour. I don't think many passengers would complain about that. Much better than 3-4 plus hours. You might have to get rid of the law regarding supersonic speeds over land though.

Upgrade the SR-71 with modern avionics and adjustments to it's engines & handling and it would still serve a great purpose in the military. Still the fastest manned jet the military ever had (excluding the space program-but the shuttle was more of a glider anyways).1960's tech must have still been good because we used them in Kosovo.

August 11, 2011 at 2:09 pm |

Whombatt

Yes, war and the associated weapons development did bring many advances to the private sector. However, think how wonderful it would have been to not have had all those wars in the first place. Perhaps humanity would have progressed even further without the impetus of death, slaughter and mass killing.

War is inevitable. The only thing we can do is continue to develop newer, better technologies that will reduce the cost and casualties of war when it does happen.

World peace is a great idea, and I doubt you'll ever find anyone that wouldn't agree to how awesome it would be to never have war again, but the reality is that war happens. Let's do what we can to minimize the impact.

Indeed. If we didn't have to spend so much babysitting bad actors, we could focus so much more $ and time on solving problems that we didn't create. Think how much better schools, health care, energy production, food supplies etc etc could be (will be?) when we don't have to pay so many TSA, cops and military. I'm sure they'd rather be musicians and chefs and gardeners. I'd much rather work in a restaurant as a chef, then play guitar later in my shift, than make wheelchair seating for people who have ailments that we could figure out how to prevent. What if.... man that would be great. Maybe:)

Were trying to get to the other side of the world in less than an hour to kills people and it still takes me two hours to get to New York city from Jersey and I live less than 30 miles away... hopefully technologies similar can find their way into the civilian life sooner than later. That's where they can actually make a difference

Many of the things we use today in our every day lives came from the military. Computers, cell phones, interstates (yes interstates. Eisenhower got the idea from Hitler to have a road/s to easily get from one piece of the country to another by land. It's why the autobahn was created.)

Just think!!! This could be how we fly to LA from Atlanta in the future!!!!

I once heard that there is designed a level, straight section every so often capable of serving as a landing strip. This gives us the ability to transport by land or air throughout the country even if infrastructure is damaged. Pretty good plan for when we feared the the Red Invasion.

Wow.. it would be a light-speed death if accident happens. It will also save the families the land to bury the dead. And this kind of aircraft will be a nice depressing disturbance to the whole creation. Why do people need to reach from NY to LA in 12 minutes? Can't they take trains?

You can walk for all I care. What about the transportation of goods? What about the fact that preliminary data shows it would be more fuel-efficient and less polluting than taking a jumbo jet the same distance? What about the fact that the technology could be improved to make a vehicle capable of taking off from a runway and reaching orbit?
Never mind, I'm wasting my words. Go crawl back into your cave, Luddite.

insane, this machine i bet it costs more then 300 mil $$$ ... this is futuristic machine, i have no idea what this machine do, but good to kill biggest enemies, like China/Russia and we make it like it was a suicide ... great idea for such things :))

For those who are asking why we need to spend for it during our economical troubles: I think we need a good defence against any possible debt collectors (China), if they'll decide to collect with force.

And we need this...why? Our current wars are fought with troops slogging thru sand and heat. Another reason we need to seriously adjust the Defense Dept spending. I wonder how many billions (with a B) went into this. Can anyone spell "pork barrel"?

As a former member of the US military, I can tell you unequivocally that the military is founded on the "hurry up and wait" principle. Now they can have even more hurrying up and way more waiting. It's a win win for our military!

Except that our current wars aren't being fought entirely by troops on the ground. Hundreds, if not thousands of insurgents have been taken out by unmanned aircraft. Continuing to perfect that technology will only make the process more efficient, and thus help to keep our troops out of harm's way.

Why is everyone thinking this is a weapon based platform?? Military does more than just create weapons. A craft of this type could be for off world flight. Testing like this could be similar to the X15 project for re-entry testing from orbit. Imagine what else it could be used for other than just weapons. As a weapon, it could massively impressive. But also a cargo/person carrier or new power plant for space travel. Look up the pulse ion engines from JPL.

Fine then if not NASA, then oil research, anything to bring down the price of energy, I'm not happy with the higher standard of living. I'm all for protection and don't want the military budget cut to starvation so we can't protect ourselves.

NO Nasa wouldnt care about the o rings and crash it over and over... Our military at least would make sure it works right... I agree the timing could be better with the economy right now.. but this also creates lots of jobs developing, building and servicing it

The number of scientific discoveries we all use today has come from the development from military...GPS, sugrical lasers, blood banks and blood transfusions, etc, etc and the list goes on. Basically all these discoveries have created new privte sector industries for commecial use helping to create jobs and economic stability. So be careful what you wish for!

They certainly have the skills to land on carriers, and if they don't have those skills yet, they will just force a few hundred pilot trainees to keep trying until one or two survives. They have plenty of extra people and no hesitation to send them to their death. China is not hampered by things like ethics and human rights! They will kill their own citizens without hesitation!

August 11, 2011 at 9:50 am |

LocNar

China will just steal our pilots just like they steal everything else from us.

August 11, 2011 at 10:37 am |

Corinnian

Salame! Link this to the extra-terrestrial post. This debunks like 99% of the UFO sightings that have happened in the past decade involving a triangular, fast-moving aircraft!

I knew it the military was testing a black tiangle at Area 51 finally thier revealing it to the public afte a decade. And Corinnian is right all those black triangles of UFO was our aircraft just reverse enginerred from Alien aircraft.

To debunk something is to show to be false or a hoax.
This in fact could show that the eyewitnesses did indeed see something when they reported the sighting, and explains it, not debunk it. Huge difference.

This isn't the giant triangular UFO from back then. I doubt this new craft from the military is even a tenth that size. From the video's we all saw, that Arizona UFO was massive; and moving slowly too. Not sure if this new wedge craft is capable of flying slowly. Also, at Mach 20 you wouldn't even see it.

Hahaha, I never said it was reverse-engineered alien technology. This just once again proves that any weird UFO's seen in the sky are military experiments. We're perfectly capable of inventing this stuff without some "superior" beings giving us the recipe for it.

I apologize for the misuse of the word "debunk" .... it does confirm that people did actually see something, it just wasn't aliens visiting us from another planet or reverse-engineered technology. Just us... making cool stuff

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CNN's Security Clearance examines national and global security, terrorism and intelligence, as well as the economic, military, political and diplomatic effects of it around the globe, with contributions from CNN's national security team in Washington and CNN journalists around the world.